Foundation & Seldon
by Iolauny
Summary: Foundation, Gaia and Robots; each with thier own agenda. Spoliers for bassically all of Asimovs Foundation and Robot books it helps to have read them or u won't know whats going on. Chapter 6 is here
1. The Other side

Planch, Mors- Little is known of him. Influential in the Renaissance of Ktlina, he is known to have come from Madder Loss, another Chaos world, and blamed Hari Seldon for the suffering the Chaos Worlds later suffered. Around 2 FE (Foundation Era) he mysteriously disappeared on the planet Earth, where he later re-appeared 500 years later. There he met....  
  
Encyclopaedia Galactica, 117th Edition, 1054 FE  
  
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He came through at the other end of the sphere, and fell out into rubble. He looked up, and found to men standing before him. One he recognized as R. Gornon Vlimt, a robot he had seen on Earth before he leapt through the machine, into the future. The other he didn't recognize. Planch got up and asked.  
  
"How long has it been?"  
  
"500 years. A long time."  
  
"Long? Good. I wanted to get away, and I have. What's happened to Madder Loss?" Even though he had gone through 5 centuries in seconds, the man still cared for his planet, its renaissance and what started the events that caused him to go through.  
  
"Madder Loss is long gone Planch. It was destroyed by the Empire and General Riose several centuries ago." Planch didn't believe him. he didn't want to.  
  
"No! No...it couldn't happen. You're lying!" Planch sank down the floor whimpering. After a few seconds he looked him, and knew it was true. He recognized who Gornons companion was.  
  
"Demerzal."  
  
"Demerzal?" The robot answered. "I haven't gone by that name for years. Please call me Daneel. Now sir, please follow me, the Earth is dangerously radioactive and we must go before we all die." The two robots headed off for a ship Planch could see in the distance, and he reluctantly followed.  
  
5 minutes later, Planch was safely aboard the ship, and R.Gornon and Daneel were back at the machine waiting for another passenger from the past. That day, long ago, R.Gornon and a faction of robots had attempted to kidnap Hari Seldon and thrust him into the future, so he could decide on the future of humanity. Daneel and stopped them, destroying most of the rebel Robots, but some like Gornon had been reconstructed, and now were part of Daneels Zeroth Law religion. Although Daneel had been able to stop Seldon from going through, he had been unable to stop two other men, Mors Planch and Lord Biron Maserd. They were now waiting for the later. They did not have to wait long. A blue sphere came out of the machine again, and another man was flung through. Unlike Planch, Maserd seemed more relaxed.  
  
"Daneel, Gornon. Good to see you old chaps. I take it I'm in the future?"  
  
"You are indeed Lord Maserd. Will you now please follow me." As before, the two robots returned to the ship, followed by the human from the past.  
  
When they were all aboard the ship lifted off, and ascended slowly. Planch and Maserd had been locked into what use to be the mess hall, but without humans on the ship it had been modified into a makeshift cell. From the windows they saw the ship go up, through the atmosphere and into space. They both expected the ship to leave the system and go back to Trantor, maybe even one of the Spacer worlds, Aurora or maybe even Solaria. But it didn't. The hyperdrive was never even engaged. The ship turned about and headed at a steady speed towards Earth's moon, which Daneel called Luna. The trip lasted about thirty minutes, and when this time had elapsed the ship set down slowly but surely beside another one, more advanced, just outside a large garden. Planch supposed this was either Daneels house, or whatever kind of Council or Senate the Eternals might have had. The door to their cell opened, and R. Daneel Olivaw walked in. He turned to them and said.  
  
"I am sorry." The two humans felt a force penetrate their minds, and they fell to the ground unconscious. 


	2. Glimpse of the future

Golan Trevize and Janov Pelorat where on their ship the Far Star preparing for launch. Bliss returned from one of her now frequent walks around Daneels grounds. She came aboard the ship and found the two men talking in the cockpit.  
  
"What will you do now Golan?" Trevize looked pensive for a moment.  
  
"To start off I'll be bringing you and Bliss back to Gaia. Then, well, who knows?"  
  
"Sure you'll be fine? I know we haven't known each other for long but I am deeply worried for your future."  
  
"Don't worry Pel, Trevize will be fine." Only then did the men notice Bliss had entered the room.  
  
"For once I agree with her." Trevize turned to Bliss and asked. "How is that little beast of yours then?"  
  
"Her name is Fallom and she still seems to think Daneel is Jemby." Pelorat went to comfort Bliss who seemed to be about to cry. They hugged and Bliss seemed to be claming down when one of Daneels robots kncoked for lack of a better word on the airlock outside.  
  
"R.Daneel Olivaw requests your presense soon. I will lead you." Trevize jumped up, eager to talk to Daneel again and Bliss and Pelorat solemly followed.  
  
  
  
Mors Planch and Biron Maserd woke up, each layed down on a seperate bed in what appeared to be a comfortable room fit for the monarchs and dignitaries of old. When they saw each other they nearly began to fight, but seeing an old robot in the room waiting for them to awaken, by mutual unpsoken consent they began to move menancingly towards it.  
  
"I warn you not to harm me as though I do not have the power of R.Daneel I still have mental powers." Maserd stopped, and seeing him stopping Planch also came to a halt. He heared Maserd mutter.  
  
"Damn Zeroth Law." The robot seemed to ignore the last comment.  
  
"R.Daneel wishes you to be brought to him."  
  
"And if we don't go?"  
  
"It is of your own choosing Mr.Planch but I daresay it will be something you do not wish to miss." Defeated Planch followed the mechanical beign out the door, and with Maserd was led to a large oval room.  
  
Everyone met in an oval room with a large ceiling. There were no chairs but a large table was in the middle of the room.  
  
"I am R.Daneel Olivaw. This is Lord Biron Maserd and Mors Planch, of the old Empire, Golan Trevize and Janov Pelorat of the Foundation and Blissne- of Gaia. I am here to tell you of the future.  
  
As you may know I am very old. Very soon I will move out of this body and into another, till the task of Galaxia is complete. But this mind to which I will transfer is still young and will require time to grow and I will need time to grow accustumed to the new body.  
  
Until then I need someone to look after things while I am gone. Gaia will need the help of robots to form Galaxia and we must keep the two Foundations calm and prepare them for the merging. But who to choose?  
  
I have many robots under my command, but none are experienced enough or know enough of the plan. I cannot chose any human, for the same reasons. So the only answer is that we must mix them, to form a hybrid of both man and machine." Daneel went to the table were a small keyboard appeared. He pressed a few buttons, the wall parted and a large tube carrying a humanoid figure came forward. Smoke came out of the tube and if appeared there inside was frozen. Through the ice you could make out what appeared to be a male face.  
  
"I present to you R. Hari Seldon." 


	3. Back from the Dead

"Is it...active?" Trevize asked form the far corner. Maserd, Planch and Pelorat stood with their mouths open, not able to say a word, while Trevize came forward and seemed to stare into the chamber.  
  
"No, but it is soon to be activated. Its construction has finished. If you stand back I will take the final steps towards his completion." Daneel went towards a keyboard on his left, while everyone else stood back in amazement. Trevize remembered that day a long time ago, when he had argued with his old friend Compor the traitor. Trevize had tried to convince him that Seldon had never even existed, and his recordings were all a lie. And now he knew that it was not true.  
  
After about 5 minutes of work Daneel stepped back. His task was finished. He took out a small remote control from a pocket in his clothing, and pressed a large green button on it. The small chamber with the Seldon-bot in it started to shake, and previously frozen snoke started hissing out from the sides. The chamber slowly moved forwards. The door swung open, and the robot stepped out. The chamber quieted down and swung back into position. Daneel stepped forward.  
  
"State your designation."  
  
"Robot Hari Seldon, registry AAR-9825."  
  
"Please state the four laws of robotics." The robot answered matter-of- factly.  
  
"1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow on to come to harm.  
  
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except when such orders would conflict with the first law.  
  
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law." R.Seldon seemed to falter for a second. Then it spit out.  
  
" The Zeroth law. A robot must act in the long-range interest of humanity as a whole, and may overrule all other laws whenever it seems necessary for that ultimate good."  
  
"Very good. I deem you fit for duty." As Trevize would later learn, this was standard procedure whenever any robot was activated. The tradition had been going on since the days before Daneel had been created, and Trevize was surprised to learn that the robots had created a whole society for themselves, along with traditions festivals and laws. When Seldon finished answering the questions, there were a few gasps from the back, and Pelorat muttered.  
  
"Wonderful!" Daneel heard this and turned to him.  
  
"Indeed. Now I will activate his AI sub processor." Daneel pressed a button, and the skin on R.Seldons left side moved to reveal a hole. Inside there was an amazing amount of wires, lights and other electronic equipment. R.Olivaw pressed a few buttons on his remote, and the skin closed back, leaving no sign of a scratch or scar. The Robot seemed to shudder, and it seemed to take on a whole new personality. This was no longer the rigid serious robot. His posture was more slouched, his eyelids seemed to flicker more and there was a slight twitch in his right hand. He recognized a face in the crowd of unknowns and shouted out.  
  
"Daneel! What am I doing here?" 


	4. Awakening and failure

"Welcome Friend Hari. Its been a long time." Daneel was about to continue with his explanation when he was pushed out of the way by a rushing Pelorat.  
  
"Hari Seldon! What an honour. Sir, my names Janov Pelorat, I'm a historian and..."  
  
"Come Janov, I think it has more important things to do than talk to us." Trevize gently pulled Pelorat back away from the robot. "Anyway, we don't even know if that really is Hari Seldon. Its a robot, it could be anything." Despite being a mechanical being the face of R.Hari Seldon displayed varying degress of confusion as the conversation went on around him.  
  
"Robot? Daneel, whats going on?" Then Seldon seemed to notice two more familiar faces in the crowd. "Planch and Maserd. Maybe you could tell me whats going on?"  
  
"You're in the future Seldon. Rouchgly 500 years. And you're a robot." Planch had beaten everyone else to the punch. "You just spewed out some crap on laws of robotics, Daneel did his think with the keyboard and look at you go! R.Hari Seldon to the rescue."  
  
"Daneel?"  
  
"What Mr.Planch has explained is technically correct. The year is 499 Foundation Era. I have brought you back to life so you could take my place until I am fully installed in a new body and can finish Galaxia."  
  
"Galaxia? A new body. Daneel, you really should explain a bit more. I remember sitting in my study, thinking about the Encyclopedia Foundation, then I felt something in my chest, and Dors, and...then I was here." R.Olivaw nodded his understanding.  
  
"You died. In your study you had a massive heart failure. But the heat failure did not affect the brain, which meant there was a good enough of a mental imprint, memories and so on, on it for roughly 10 minutes after you had died. This was more than enough time for me to go into your study and download your mental imprint into a positronic matrix which now consists of your brain. If you check your on-board data store it should answer any other questions you have." Seldons eyes seemed to go out of focus for a while, as he looked up the events leading on from his death. But had he really died? And being a robot, a mechanical being, was he really alive? Arising from his thoughts, he looked depressed.  
  
"Daneel, I have failed."  
  
"How is that Friend Seldon?"  
  
"My lifes work, it is for nothing. A second Empire won't be created, the Foundations will be absorbed by this Galaxia. Psychohistory has failed, all because I forgot 2 minor details, which were staring at me in the face all along."  
  
"What are these?"  
  
"First my Foundation friends will know about: mentalics. Human civilisation needed to stay the same for psychohistory to work. I thought that my Second Foundation could counteract this, but events I have read from my data store about the Mule and Gaia show that the Second Foundation is not enough. And second, there was something I knew even before I started most of my work. You Daneel: robots. It cannot work."  
  
"I am sorry to have used you this way Friend Hari. But the Foundation has bought precious time needed for the forming of Galaxia. Before I would of had to deal with 30 millenia of barbarism, now I can easily deal with a Second Empire. Which will be formed, Gaia cannot advance that quickly. And anyway, no one knows anything about robots, the only two bodies which could stop us are Gaia and the Foundation. We control Gaia, and the Foundation is predictable. We have your psychohistory to thank for that. Thanks to you Galaxia will be formed, and humanity will stand a better chance of surviving." After Daneels words Seldon seemed cheered up.  
  
"Yes, I am happy. I believe this is that Zeroth Law of yours, it is good that humanity will be safe." But the third robot spoke up from the corner where it had quietly watched the proceedings. It was R.Gornon.  
  
"There is one problem. There is still Dors Venabili and Lodovik Trema." 


	5. Stars End and the Renaissance World

"Dors? But she died...she malfunctioned...she..." At that moment R.Hari Seldon's eyes went blank, as the robot momentarily lost consciousness. Daneel addressed the rest of the room.  
  
"I have inactivated him. I would ask you please not to mention Dors Venabili, in fact anything leading back to Seldon's previous life. His positronic matrix is still young and it will take some time for it to completely form and settle down, he is still very vulnerable to outside forces." The light came back to R.Seldon's eyes, and for a moment he seemed lost.  
  
"Ah, where was I?"  
  
"Friend Hari, I have a mission for you. Off world. Mr Trevize already knows this, as does Gaia, that when the three futures met their minds had to be altered to forget the incident. There already has been a fault with the First Foundation, they forgot easily about the incident but still remember the ship. It is possible that a similar mistake has been made with the Second Foundation. Although I will not be able to go, another robot who has mentalic powers similar to my own will accompany you to them and make sure you are not detected, and if there are any inconsistencies to fix them. I still posses a few yachts and other faster-than-light capable ships, you can get there easily enough"  
  
"I'll take him." All eyes turned to Trevize. "The Far Star can get you there faster than any old bucket R.Daneel has, and its not like I've got anything better to do. I assume you should be able to provide transport for my friend Pelorat and Bliss."  
  
"Transport? What would we need transport for? We've been to Earth with you, I doubt Stars End will be any deadlier." Trevize shuddered remembering the dogs. "With this robot there and Bliss and as many other Gaians there are we'll be well protected."  
  
"Very well. You shall accompany R.Hari Seldon."  
  
"What about us?" Now it was Mors Planch Speaking up.  
  
"You will be with myself on a quest of our own. And Lord Maserd will be with us. We're going to Madder Loss."  
  
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"Stars End. I don't suppose you'll be able to tell me where this is now R.Seldon." Trevize was now in the Far Stars command room, which seemed crowded when himself and Janov were inside, but was now cramped with himself, Pelorat, Bliss, R.Seldon and another robot who had identified itself as R.Klein Orse.  
  
"Wait Golan, I don't suppose Mr.Seldon will allow an old man to indulge himself at the great game" R.Seldon nodded. "Lets see, Stars End is on Terminus?"  
  
"Of course not man, they'd have been discovered way too quickly."  
  
"In that case it appears Arkady Darell was wrong and a circle does have an end, and by that smile on that face of yours I guess it is a rather obvious one. What about Kalgan? We found quite a few of their spies there after the capture of Anthor and the supposed Second Foundation."  
  
"Once again wrong. I'll even give you a clue. A saying, which you might be familiar with from your field of study. All roads lead to Roma."  
  
"Trantor!" But it was Trevize who came up with the answer first. "All roads lead to Trantor and that is where all stars end." Seldon nodded to confirm the answer.  
  
"You have figured it out. When I made the reference to Stars End and I knew people might assume the opposite end of the geographical Empire. I had done this so as to crate these misconceptions, to further help hide the Second Foundation. But I did not mean geographical opposites, I meant political. The first Foundation was in the Periphery, at the edge of the Empire, not even part of it until the Encyclopaedists arrived there. Where else could the Second Foundation be, but at the heart of the Empire?"  
  
"In that case if I may have some space we can leave this oversize satellite and depart for the Seat of the First Empire."  
  
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"Daneel, why are we going to that hell hole of a planet?"  
  
"It is not a hell hole Maserd, it was the jewel of the Empire, home of the Renaissance, until Seldon destroyed it all."  
  
"Seldon did not destroy any Mr.Planch, chaos did. I have been fighting it all my existence."  
  
"Chaos wouldn't of happened. We were going to triumph! A new Empire with amazing technologies, and now what, a farming world, its population destroyed by its blind trust of Seldons Foundation that couldn't stand up to the Empires last great General." Daneel was going to argue, but sensing the arrogant biased composition of Planch's brain he decided against it. Maserd asked again.  
  
"Why are we going to this Renaissance world then?"  
  
"Madder Loss didn't only hold rebels against the Empire. It held rebels against the Zeroth Law. Calvanians. And I believe they had possession of a very special artefact, possible a working robot. A New Law robot." 


	6. Before Departure

"Daneel." "Hari." "Why?" "I told you why. It is necessary for someone to look after humankind while my body is growing, the Zeroth law demands it. Even with my mentalic powers I cannot trust my own robots not to turn on me, or a human master. You are the only one I can trust." Even though they were nearly a mile apart the conversation between the two robots went unheard as they communicated through hyperwaves installed in their bodies. "Then how did you do it? I know you've said about mentalic impressions, but when did you get this idea? How did you know you were going to need me, or my robotic version, in the future?" "Hari, I've functioned for over 20,000 years. You may not believe this in an artificial being ruled by mathematics and mechanics, but it was intuition." Although he was a mechanical being the mind of an academician still ticked inside Seldons head. "Intuition is nothing but psychohistory diluted. I don't suppose my abduction by the Calvanians gave any help?" "I had thought about doing this long before that, but thir actions did reinforce me belief. It is ironic that though their plan failed back then it has now come into fruitation by myself, their enemy." "Yes ironic." R.Seldon paused to think, though due to his new body and capabilities this pause lasted for less than 0.05 miliseconds. "Daneel, why am I going to Trantor? You don't need me to check on what the Second Foundation knows, and I doubt you're letting me go just to satisfy my curiosity as to how its all worked out." "You are right. There is one task I need you to do, one the others must not know about. Before you said that your psychohistory had failed. But it can be put back together." "How? I created it and I do not see the way." "I am not thinking of predicting the future of humankind. I am thinking of predicting the future of Galaxia." "I suppose that as a single organism the equations would be easier, but its completely different. New behaviour and chaos equations would have to be made, and I haven't even mentioned the outside influences on Galaxia." "Such as?" "The Foundationers who will undoubtly resist its formation. Robots who are not part of Gaia and may not follow your views and ideas. Solarians such as Fallom whos body you will be taking over. And the memes." "Memes?" "The ones that freed the two sims, Voltaire and Joan of Arc. They are still out there." "I haven't asked you to come up with the answers straight away, just look to see if it can be done. With sufficient mentalic pursuading we may even be able to get the Psychohistorians of Trantor to help you." Another pause. "What task have you set yourself Friend Daneel? Where are you going with Mors Planch and Biron Maserd?" "You might have seen it mentioned in that book I gave you a long time ago, about the New Law robots. On a Spacer world called Inferno, the 50th by the way, using new gravitiv brains instead of our positronic ones a scientist created a different type of robots with different laws. These were called New Law robots. I do not know how many were made, but all of them were confined to the planet of Inferno and put to work on a terraforming project. A little after that the robotic civil wars started, and it was believed that all of these New Law robots were destroyed by both sides who saw them as an abomination." "And how do you think this New Law robot will help you?" "I do not know, but if it is still alive then I must find it. I'm afriad I do not have the ability to apply psychohistory to this, then I might know what it could help us with." "It might not work anyway, the equations aren't exact where they concern individuals." "Good luck Friend Hari." "Good luck to you as well Friend Daneel." 


End file.
